Texas A&M officials are speaking out Friday after an NBC 5 story aired Thursday on the university’s efforts to take over a Deep Ellum bar and build a new nine-story dental school.
Elbow Room has been a popular watering-hole for decades.
The bar has 17 years left on their lease, but the bar owners don't own the building or parking lot.
A&M officials said they had the land appraised and so far the property owner so far has turned down multiple offers to sell, including offers above fair market value.
The university confirms its moving forward with eminent domain proceedings to get the spot condemned and taken over. A&M officials said it’s a last resort and the legal process is still ongoing.
The university said it needs to expand its College of Dentistry near its current, seven-story location on Gaston Avenue. A new building needs to be close-by for college faculty, dental students and also the patients they serve.
A&M said there are currently about 600 students in the college training to be dentists or dental hygenists.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
A new building next door will allow them to increase enrollment by 25 percent and treat 40,000 more patients a year.
"Expanding the college next door definitely matters from a public health standpoint. There are so many underserved communities in the state of Texas," said Texas A&M College of Dentistry spokeswoman Susan Jackson. "In our own backyard, we have areas in Dallas that are designated as federally under-served dental communities. So being able to have 100,000 patient visits each year and increase it by an additional 40,000, I think it’s a true benefit."
Jackson gave NBC 5 a tour of the cramped clinic space where dental students and their dentist advisors treat patients. A&M wants to add dozens of additional clinic labs and create more space and openness.
"It'll make our patients more comfortable, and our students, who right now sometimes have to squeeze by each other,” Jackson said.
Jackson said the dental students — under the careful guidance of their experienced and certified dental advisors — treat patients of all ages and income levels, many who’d go without care otherwise.
“With the new building across the street we would be able to increase our enrollment by 25 percent, which will provide more dentists and dental hygienists to be in the community providing care,” she said. “And 90 percent of our graduates stay and practice in the state of Texas.”
